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American Morning

Saddam's Sons Killed

Aired July 23, 2003 - 07:04   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to turn to Iraq and what the U.S. says is one of the most significant events since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. An intense gun battle erupted in Mosul yesterday. Acting on a tip from an informant, U.S. troops surrounded a house in the northern city. The fighting lasted six hours, and when it was over, Saddam's two sons, Uday and Qusay, were dead.
But today, just as Iraqis cautiously celebrated the news, an audiotape said to be the voice of Saddam Hussein was aired on Arab television.

How are the Iraqis responding to these latest developments? We've got reaction in both Mosul and Baghdad this morning, so let's begin with CNN's Harris Whitbeck, who is in Mosul for us this morning.

Harris -- good morning.

HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

There were several people, residents of this city, who gathered at the site of that intense firefight. They were here for several hours this morning. Many of them started chanting pro-Saddam Hussein slogans, criticizing American actions in Iraq. And when we asked them how they felt about what had transpired here the night before, they didn't even really want to talk about Saddam Hussein's two older sons. They wanted the opportunity to talk about how the American occupation of Iraq has affected their lives -- a lack of electricity, a lack of running water in many cases, and a lack of security.

Now, I do want to give you a sense of what this scene looks like this morning. The house, where Saddam Hussein's two older sons were killed along with two other individuals, is a smoldering hulk right now. There are periodically, we can see, flames shoot up there.

The house is surrounded by U.S. troops, and they are surrounding it and keeping it secure, because they say that there is still a lot of investigative work that has to be done there. They say that some very important documents that contain important intelligence had been found there this morning, and they want to make sure that the site remains secure in case intelligence analysts need to come back here and check out the site -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Harris Whitbeck for us this morning in Mosul. Thank you for that.

Let's turn now to Baghdad, which is where Rym Brahimi is for us this morning as well.

Good morning to you -- Rym.

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.

Well, reactions here this morning are mixed, which is interesting, because initially there was a lot of celebration in the streets yesterday. The immediate reaction, of course, being one of joy and happiness, and also a lot of relief that the two sons of Saddam Hussein are now dead.

But now on the day after, Soledad, well, people are asking questions, and some people here are saying that they really want to see the bodies dead. They want to see proof that they're really, really gone. The people think there may be some revenge attacks that will follow the killing of the sons of Saddam Hussein, and other people yet feel a little disappointed or cheated, because they say that they would have wanted to be able to try those two sons that caused so much suffering themselves rather than see them killed immediately by U.S. forces -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: All right, Rym Brahimi for us in Baghdad this morning. Rym, thanks for that report.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired July 23, 2003 - 07:04   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to turn to Iraq and what the U.S. says is one of the most significant events since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. An intense gun battle erupted in Mosul yesterday. Acting on a tip from an informant, U.S. troops surrounded a house in the northern city. The fighting lasted six hours, and when it was over, Saddam's two sons, Uday and Qusay, were dead.
But today, just as Iraqis cautiously celebrated the news, an audiotape said to be the voice of Saddam Hussein was aired on Arab television.

How are the Iraqis responding to these latest developments? We've got reaction in both Mosul and Baghdad this morning, so let's begin with CNN's Harris Whitbeck, who is in Mosul for us this morning.

Harris -- good morning.

HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

There were several people, residents of this city, who gathered at the site of that intense firefight. They were here for several hours this morning. Many of them started chanting pro-Saddam Hussein slogans, criticizing American actions in Iraq. And when we asked them how they felt about what had transpired here the night before, they didn't even really want to talk about Saddam Hussein's two older sons. They wanted the opportunity to talk about how the American occupation of Iraq has affected their lives -- a lack of electricity, a lack of running water in many cases, and a lack of security.

Now, I do want to give you a sense of what this scene looks like this morning. The house, where Saddam Hussein's two older sons were killed along with two other individuals, is a smoldering hulk right now. There are periodically, we can see, flames shoot up there.

The house is surrounded by U.S. troops, and they are surrounding it and keeping it secure, because they say that there is still a lot of investigative work that has to be done there. They say that some very important documents that contain important intelligence had been found there this morning, and they want to make sure that the site remains secure in case intelligence analysts need to come back here and check out the site -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Harris Whitbeck for us this morning in Mosul. Thank you for that.

Let's turn now to Baghdad, which is where Rym Brahimi is for us this morning as well.

Good morning to you -- Rym.

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.

Well, reactions here this morning are mixed, which is interesting, because initially there was a lot of celebration in the streets yesterday. The immediate reaction, of course, being one of joy and happiness, and also a lot of relief that the two sons of Saddam Hussein are now dead.

But now on the day after, Soledad, well, people are asking questions, and some people here are saying that they really want to see the bodies dead. They want to see proof that they're really, really gone. The people think there may be some revenge attacks that will follow the killing of the sons of Saddam Hussein, and other people yet feel a little disappointed or cheated, because they say that they would have wanted to be able to try those two sons that caused so much suffering themselves rather than see them killed immediately by U.S. forces -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: All right, Rym Brahimi for us in Baghdad this morning. Rym, thanks for that report.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.